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Volcanic eruption starts in Iceland (Live webcam)

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Re: Volcanic eruption starts in Iceland (Live webcam)

#51

Post by samatman »

eesmith wrote: post #49
djcapelis wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It definitely has supplanted them in Iceland. Even the most remote places that used to use oil are generally switching to geothermal for heating. Converting the heat to power isn’t always worth it because the island has so much plentiful hydro power. Fossil fuels account for basically 0% of Icelandic power.

FWIW, about 12.8% says https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/iceland#how-much-o... . (Wikipedia says 15% at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Iceland but that uses a 10 year old source.)

That's energy, OP referred to power, which normally means generated power in these discussions. All of the fossil energy is oil, none is coal, and I believe that's all used in transportation and a tiny bit of heating in the hinterlands.

I wonder how the flying in and out is accounted for in these sorts of figures, if hydrocarbons are ever replaced in aviation it will be dead last after everything else.

Re: Volcanic eruption starts in Iceland (Live webcam)

#52

Post by samatman »

JRKrause wrote: post #20
bilsbie wrote: post #11

How much co2 will this release and can we afford it?

If I recall the math, the yearly total eruption of actual magma mass is on the same order as the yearly mass of CO2 emitted by humans (some like 80billion tons of magma vs 30billion tons of CO2). The percent, by mass, of dissolved CO2 in that magma is in the single digits. So to answer to your question: It's a drop in the bucket.

Except when it isn't: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnian_pluvial_episode

Re: Volcanic eruption starts in Iceland (Live webcam)

#53

Post by samatman »

runarberg wrote: post #21
JRKrause wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I recall the math, the yearly total eruption of actual magma mass is on the same order as the yearly mass of CO2 emitted by humans (some like 80billion tons of magma vs 30billion tons of CO2). The percent, by mass, of dissolved CO2 in that magma is in the single digits. So to answer to your question: It's a drop in the bucket.

There was an eruption in the same location last year, that lasted for about 6 months. I think it emitted between 1 and 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases. In comparison humans in Iceland emitted around 2-10 million tonnes (depending on what you include) during the same period. Another fun comparison is that Elon Musk’s 50 min flight in his private jet last Friday between Brownsville, TX and Austin,…

That rascally Elon Musk.

He has enough money to give every American a million bucks and just doesn't do it.

I'll never understand that kinda selfishness!

Re: Volcanic eruption starts in Iceland (Live webcam)

#54

Post by grecy »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #23
gojomo wrote: post #12

As soon as my 2nd vax dose was 14d behind-me in May 2021, I went to Iceland – which had just recently reopened to vaxed travelers – to see the Fagradalsfjall eruption. It was just a ~50m drive from Reykjavik, plus a ~1h20m hike. It was spectacular - launching large lava plumes on a roughly 8-minute, reliable cycle, and feeding ever-growing lava fields out around both sides of one hilltop that was ideal for watching t…

I did the same on. I got a chance to get reasonably close on May 29, 2021. Here's the coolest selfie I'll ever take. https://i.imgur.com/pCA1gSr.jpg Two days later the hill on which I took that selfie was cut off from a new lava flow.

I did the same in Guatemala - poked the lave a with a stick, threw rocks in and even roasted marshmallows on it. Somehow regular fire roasted ones have never tasted the same since :)

http://theroadchoseme.com/volca%CC%81n-pacaya

Re: Volcanic eruption starts in Iceland (Live webcam)

#55

Post by sosborn »

gojomo wrote: post #12

As soon as my 2nd vax dose was 14d behind-me in May 2021, I went to Iceland – which had just recently reopened to vaxed travelers – to see the Fagradalsfjall eruption. It was just a ~50m drive from Reykjavik, plus a ~1h20m hike. It was spectacular - launching large lava plumes on a roughly 8-minute, reliable cycle, and feeding ever-growing lava fields out around both sides of one hilltop that was ideal for watching t…

I'm biased, but Kilauea volcano is incredible if you want to see an safe but active eruption: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/summit-webcams

Re: Volcanic eruption starts in Iceland (Live webcam)

#56

Post by eesmith »

samatman wrote: post #51
eesmith wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, about 12.8% says https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/iceland#how-much-o... . (Wikipedia says 15% at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Iceland but that uses a 10 year old source.)

That's energy, OP referred to power, which normally means generated power in these discussions. All of the fossil energy is oil, none is coal, and I believe that's all used in transportation and a tiny bit of heating in the hinterlands. I wonder how the flying in and out is accounted for in these sorts of figures, if hydrocarbons are ever replaced in aviation it will be dead last after everything else.

Okay. OP' parent referred to "global replacement for fossil fuels or it would have supplanted them already".

I found Iceland's "Fuel Use Forecast" at https://nea.is/fuel/forecast/nr/132 , which appear to be from 2007. It shows aviation as the biggest - and growing - consumer of fuel.

Re: Volcanic eruption starts in Iceland (Live webcam)

#57

Post by samatman »

eesmith wrote: post #56
samatman wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's energy, OP referred to power, which normally means generated power in these discussions. All of the fossil energy is oil, none is coal, and I believe that's all used in transportation and a tiny bit of heating in the hinterlands. I wonder how the flying in and out is accounted for in these sorts of figures, if hydrocarbons are ever replaced in aviation it will be dead last after everything else.

Okay. OP' parent referred to "global replacement for fossil fuels or it would have supplanted them already". I found Iceland's "Fuel Use Forecast" at https://nea.is/fuel/forecast/nr/132 , which appear to be from 2007. It shows aviation as the biggest - and growing - consumer of fuel.

Iceland has so much access to power that they're likely to be the first country to export net negative carbon in some fashion: aluminum I'd guess, we always need that.

This won't involve burning less jet fuel and resembles a Papal indulgence, but maintaining an industrial civilization while decarbonizing industry is impossible without this kind of accounting.

Re: Volcanic eruption starts in Iceland (Live webcam)

#58

Post by runarberg »

samatman wrote: post #53
runarberg wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was an eruption in the same location last year, that lasted for about 6 months. I think it emitted between 1 and 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases. In comparison humans in Iceland emitted around 2-10 million tonnes (depending on what you include) during the same period. Another fun comparison is that Elon Musk’s 50 min flight in his private jet last Friday between Brownsville, TX and Austin,…

That rascally Elon Musk. He has enough money to give every American a million bucks and just doesn't do it. I'll never understand that kinda selfishness!

You are making the same factor of 1000 mistake as I did. Elon Musk’s net worth is believed to have peaked last year around 300 billion USD there are around 300 million people living in the USA. If his entire wealth was distributed evenly among every person living in the USA, each would get around 1000 USD.

Although my mistake was because I misread the source (in Icelandic it is common to spell out the thousand, e.g. 4-7 thousand). I’m not sure how you’ve arrived at your number.

Re: Volcanic eruption starts in Iceland (Live webcam)

#59

Post by runarberg »

samatman wrote: post #52
JRKrause wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I recall the math, the yearly total eruption of actual magma mass is on the same order as the yearly mass of CO2 emitted by humans (some like 80billion tons of magma vs 30billion tons of CO2). The percent, by mass, of dissolved CO2 in that magma is in the single digits. So to answer to your question: It's a drop in the bucket.

Except when it isn't: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnian_pluvial_episode

Interesting. Although there weren’t many humans around during the Carnian, so the volcanoes are gonna win that for sure.

Also there was a lot of old biomass waiting to be burned back then that exaggerated the CO2 emissions of the super volcanoes, as wood (and other novel carbon structures) evolved before organisms that could brake them down and allow it to rot. I’m not sure a super volcano today would release so much CO2 into the atmosphere as they did back in the late Permian / early Carnian simply because it won’t hit as much stored carbon pockets.

That said. These mega-colossal volcanic eruptions only happen like once every 50,000 years and emit an order of 10-100s of billions of CO2, which is only 1-5 of years of human CO2 emissions at the current rate.

Yes volcanoes do emit greenhouse gasses, but it is not nearly on the same scale as humans.

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